The Catalyst
by unaccompaniedsoul
Summary: In 2013 Ava's life was simple. Until Kate Mathers paid her a visit from 2184 with the news that Ava was the Catalyst; the savior of the human race. After some persuasion, Ava takes Kate's place in the 22nd Century with hopes that she can remain hidden among those seeking to find her. Ava finds confusion, terror, and even love in her quest to be the catalyst and save the universe.


**THanks for reading! I love any feedback so let me know what you think!** - ER

It had been a normal Tuesday. Everything was going fine. I wasn't stressed. I was enjoying life. Until I was approached by a stranger in odd clothing. A tight bright blue jumpsuit made of armor and other materials I'd never seen before. At first, I just thought she was crazy rambling on about a catalyst and the end of the world and the future. But then after the things she showed me, there was no way I couldn't believe her.

The stranger, Kate Mathers, explained that she was from the year 2184 and was on a critical mission to come back to 2013 for me to teleport me back to the future in her place. I know, the first time I heard her say it I choked on my coffee. Literally spat it all over the table in front of her. To which she said,

"That was mild compared to the other responses I foresaw."

It wasn't until she showed me the technology she brought with that I believed her at all. We were sitting at the back table in the coffee shop I work at. Thankfully, we were alone because what she proceed to do would have scared the living shit out of anyone in the coffee shop. And that wouldn't have been good for business.

She slowly unwrapped the napkin that held the silverware and pulled out the sharpest knife. I was already getting an uneasy feeling, so I backed up and took my hands off the table. Then with all her might, so slammed the knife down into her arm. I know, sounds crazy right? The fact that she'd stab herself to make a point? But she said she'd do whatever necessary to get me to go to 2184 and she wasn't kidding.

After a second, an orange computer like tool lit up on her left arm. After typing on it with her uninjured right arm, she was suddenly healed. The wound was gone and all that was left was the blood stain on the table. I didn't know how I was going to explain that to my boss but that was the least of my worries at the moment. She'd stabbed herself one second and healed herself the next, like it had never happened.

"Do you believe me now?" She asked as she wiped the rest of the blood off of her perfect healthy left forearm. I nodded, still incapable of speech. She smiled before grabbing my hand and leading me out of the shop.

See? I had never agreed to her crazy plot to take me to 2183. Actually, the whole thought of the future scared me. And I'm pretty sure my cat would die without me. But she made a pretty good case, saying the fate of the human race lie on my getting to the future. She'd explained how an advance synthetic race, appropriately named the reapers, was going to destroy all life in the universe if the catalyst was not found. And can you guess what the catalyst is? Yeah, it's _me_. Though, she wasn't sure how or why I was catalyst. All they knew was it was Ava Wilson, 25 year old café worker from Maine in the year 2013.

Now of course, I'd protested. But there was nothing I could say that would make Kate leave me alone. And that's when I decided that if I didn't go with her, I'd regret it every day for the rest of my life. So I did. She took off her uniform and gave it me and made me an alliance military I.D badge. I know, when she told me I was going to be in the military I'd laughed. There was no way my tiny out of shape body was military ready. But she told me I was in navigation and probably wouldn't see combat. She then changed my finger prints to match her since I was taking her place. Surprisingly the finger print swapping wasn't as painful as it sounded.

And lastly she explained where she was sending me. She wasn't sending me to 2184 but to 2183 and her first day aboard her ship, the Normandy. When I said I got seasick she laughed so hard I thought she was having an episode. Then she told me ship, as in spaceship, as if I should be surprised. I was training in to be one of the ships navigators. She told me it was easy, like reading a current day map. Oh, how wrong she was.

She didn't proceed to tell me much more, which was a mistake on her part. But she said that it had to seem like I was living through this all the first time. If I was able to tell the future, I'd be suspected. Oh and I didn't mention, _no one_ could know I was the catalyst. They had to figure that out on their own; it was part of the deal for her to come back here and get me. So I had to be Kate Mathers, Navigator of the Normandy; not Ava Wilson, coffee maker.

She promised she take care of my cat as I gave her the keys to my apartment. Other than that, there wasn't really anybody for me to say goodbye too. My parents had died when I was young and I jumped from foster home to foster home until I started working at the coffee shop seven years ago. All my boyfriend's had come and gone. So in reality, there was nothing holding me back from this experience. I had no reason to stay.

I felt oddly flexible in the uniform she put me in. She then said her goodbye solemnly. I don't think she wanted to trade lives with me. Then again, if I had instant healing technology, I'd want to stay in the future too. Then she type away on the computer, known as an Omni-Tool, now attached to my left arm. I was shaking as she waved goodbye and then a rush of white energy consumed me.

And now I'm here. At the time, I wasn't exactly sure where here was because I was too busy being in complete awe of my surroundings. Ships zoomed above my head, aliens walked passed me and didn't even glance my way, people were dressed in shiny dresses and tough looking uniforms, and lights floated above my head. At first, I thought I was dreaming and I proceeded to pinch myself over a dozen times before finally believing that I was here. I was in 2183. And so far, it rocked.

It took me a second to start wandering. I walked through a set of doors which greeted me with a:

"Hello Kate Mathers, welcome to the Citadel."

I'm sure I looked like an idiot at that point, searching wildly for the source of the voice. It took me a minute to realize that door had greeted me and not an actually person. Quickly, I walked away from the scene. The Citadel was a bustling metropolis full of unfamiliar beings. I was surprised I wasn't scared of them. Maybe it was because they just walked passed me without a second glance or because they spoke English or because they just had such normal mannerisms. I wasn't sure. But I was glad I wasn't screaming at the site of them; that would have caused a scene.

"Hello," A calm female voice to my left said. I turned to face a glowing hologram of a female. She continued, "I am Avina, how my I assist you today?"

"Hi," I said slowly. I had so many questions. But Kate had warned me about seeming too much like a new comer, but how was I not? I didn't have any knowledge about anything. But I narrowed my question down to something relevant. Eventually I'd find a computer and search for the answers to all of my questions. So I asked, "Where is the Normandy?"

"The Normandy is docked in docking bay B12," She replied, "Would you like directions to docking bay B12?"

"Yes please," I replied knowing there was no way I was going to be able to navigate through this place without them. She directed me to a shuttle which lead me directly to the docking bays. Massive ships the size of apartment buildings were docked at each port. I couldn't help but stare as I approached the Normandy, which was biggest of them all.

"It's pretty amazing isn't it?" Someone said from behind me. I turned to face an attractive man with dark hair and eyes. He threw me a smile.

"Yeah," I replied honestly, "One of the most amazing ships I've ever seen."

"Are you stationed on her?" He asked and I replied with a quick nod. "Me too. I'm Major Kaidan Alenko." He held out his hand for me to take which I did. He gave it a firm shake. At least something was the same.

"I'm Navigator Kate Mathers," I said as he let go of our handshake. It felt weird, introducing myself as someone else. But he seemed to believe me and that was a start.

"Is this the first frigate you've been stationed on?" He asked as we walked towards the docking bay together. He seemed cool and level headed, I could tell I was going to like him already.

"The first one like this," I replied. Kate had explained that she had most of her history erased before she traveled to the past. And she'd given me an override code to add in any information about her that I see fit. Pretty much, I was rewriting her history. I had no idea of she had been on a frigate, as he called it, like this before but it didn't matter. I got to decide where I'd been in the past.

"Me too," He replied, "And I thought I was the only one. It's such an honor. And can you believe will be working with Commander Shepard?"

Who the hell was _Commander Shepard?_

"It's quite amazing," I played along.

"I mean," Kaidan started, "The guy's a hero. But I'm going to try not to get to star struck. He's just a normal guy."

"Who happens to be a hero," I replied as we reached the double doors that led to the inside of the ship.

"Yeah," Kaidan said sheepishly, "Maybe some of it will rub off on me."

"Hey," I said as we walked inside the ship's decontamination chamber, "You said this was an honor to be stationed on this ship right? You've probably done something heroic in your time or they wouldn't have asked you to join it."

He looked sheepishly at me, as if it was odd of me to give him a compliment. He opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by:

"Decontamination in progress."

The doors in front of us opened quickly and we stepped in. It felt awkward for a second, as if something was left unsaid but Kaidan quickly motioned for me to follow him to the left. It's not like I had anything better to do anyways.

"Want to meet the pilot?" He asked as we walked towards a second set of double doors in a hallway aligned with seats and computers. Only one of the computers was currently be used, the rest lay untouched.

"Piloting this huge thing must be difficult," I said as I looked down towards one of the computers.

"You can say that again," Kaidan replied as we reached the double doors. The doors swung open and the inside was far from what I expected. I was expecting to see a large room full of tons of people or at least two people, like you see in an airplane. But there was one man, sitting in the middle, pressing orange buttons as they lit up.

"Hey Joker," Kaidan greeted him as he took the open seat next to him. I felt awkward standing in the back. But I really didn't know where I was needed. I didn't even know where navigators went. I sighed.

"Hey Alenko," He replied before turning to look towards me. His whole chair spun, like you'd see in one of those mafia movies where the boss turned around all the dramatically, "And this is?"

"Navigator Kate Mathers," Kaidan introduced me, "I thought I'd let her see for herself the best pilot in the fleet."

"Damn straight," He replied before giving me a nod, "So you're the one responsible for getting me where I need to go?"

"Yeah," I nodded, "But I wouldn't rely heavily on me for that, I get lost easily."

Joker laughed before turning towards Kaidan, "She's funny. I like her."

I wanted to say that it wasn't a joke, but then again to them it would seem as one. I was supposed to be one of the best at navigating in the military. But I couldn't even navigate myself to where I was supposed to be in this ship. I frowned, Kate couldn't have given me a freakin' manual or something?

"Joker's not your real name is it?" I asked trying to change the subject, "If so, your mom must have hated you."

"You're kind of bold new girl," He said quickly before flashing me a quick smile, "They call me Joker 'cause I liked to make jokes in the academy. My real name is Jeff. First Flight Lieutenant Jeff Moreau to be exact. Joker's just easier."

"Alright," I nodded, "Joker it is."

"Joker?" A voice came over the intercom, "Status report?"

"We're all ready when you are Captain," Jeff replied quickly.

"Hey," Someone walked into the cockpit. I turned to face him quickly. And it took me a minute to get my bearings. This man had to be a model. No way was someone that good looking in the military. "We all set to go?"

"Hey Commander," Jeff responded, "Yeah, I just let the captain know we're all ready to hall anchor. Any idea where we're heading?"

"There's a spectre abroad," The Commander said, "So I'd assume somewhere important. I was just heading to get debriefed now."

"Well good luck," Joker started, "That spectre is one mean looking son-of-a-bitch."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Someone else joined the conversation. Joker froze as I turned to face the new individual that joined us. I literally gasped and took a step back. I hadn't seen any alien that looked like this in the citadel and if I did it wasn't this up close. I took a minute to look at his features, his skin was scaly and he literally had like horns sticking out of his head. His eyes were beady and focused right on mine. I looked away. "Meet me in the comm room when you're ready Shepard."

Oh, this was Commander Shepard. He threw a glance my way.

"That guy gives me the creeps," Joker continued after throwing a glance over his shoulder to make sure he was actually gone this time, "I mean, why would need a spectre abroad? I didn't even know they went on alliance ships."

"I guess I'll go find out," Shepard replied with a nod, "Make sure we're completely ready go. Let the Navigator know that we should be expecting a quick departure to unknown coordinates."

"You're looking at her," Joker said as he motioned toward me with his free hand.

"Kate Mathers," I replied lightly holding out my hand to greet him, "I've heard nothing but good things Commander." That wasn't even a lie.

He took my hand and gave it a firm shake before saying, "It's nice to meet you Mathers. Are you familiar with the ships navigation system?"

"Of course," I lied.

"Good," He replied letting go of my hand, "Good to have you aboard."

He said some things to Kaidan before leaving. As Joker and Kaidan started working on their machines, I decided it was my time to go too.

I walked towards Joker first and said, "You're right, he is one mean looking SOB"

"See?" Joker said to Kaidan, who just shook his head.

I walked down the hallway and into a large room with a holographic model of the ship in the middle. People surrounded it, all seemed to be busily working. Who was I kidding? There was no way I was up for this. I needed a back button, an escape, anything. I frowned and ran my hand threw my hair.

"Are you Mathers?" Someone asked to my left. I turned and nodded to the girl who had addressed me, "Awesome, we've been waiting for you. We had to do some modification to your station, come take a look."

She brought me to a computer next to the hologram. Quickly she began clicking away on it and I watched in awe as the machine triggered the ship to turn into a map full of galaxies right in front of me.

"Wow," was all I could muster to say.

She then proceeded to tell me a bunch of numbers that meant nothing to me and a bunch of words that were seriously new to me. I don't know why I expected this to get easier. I was going to get thrown off this ship before I was able to stop anything.

"Navigator!" Kaidan came up behind me with urgency, "We need to get to Eden Prime now."

"You got it," I said quickly as the women stepped aside from the computer. Kaidan threw me another odd look. I was obviously speaking in some wrong way to him. But I couldn't focus on that now. I needed to get us to Eden Prime. Where-ever that was.

Kaidan disappeared as soon as he came and I breathed out a sigh of relief. At least he wasn't breathing down my back. I was sure I'd make a fool of myself if he was. Hell, I was going to make a fool of myself anyways. Kate had mentioned using my Omni-Tool to answer specific questions, maybe it knew where Eden Prime was.

To my surprise, when I searched 'Coordinates of Eden Prime' some numbers and letter appeared. That was a start. I clicked on the computer quickly, until the galaxy picture reappeared in front of me. Then I just typed in the coordinates. It wasn't like the computers at home, where there were buttons for everything. This computer practically had no buttons on it at all. I crossed my fingers.

Final Destination Set: Eden Prime.

I clapped, literally clapped. A button starting lighting to my left just as the Commander walked onto a platform in front of the map.

"We ready Mathers?" He asked down towards me.

"Whenever you are Commander."

"Joker," The commander pressed up against his ear, "Let's get there."

The ship jerked suddenly, making me grasp the sides of the computer. Well at least I'd survived my first navigator test, but I felt like the rest weren't going to be that simple. And I was slowly realizing I was way over my head. But then again, this kicked life in the coffee shop's ass any day.

And as hard as it was, I was going to have to learn how to adjust. People were already starting to notice I was different. And the last thing I wanted was to ruin what I came here to start. Kate's one warning; if anyone found out who I really was, the universe was as doomed as it was when she first left.

Not to mention, when word was out that I was the catalyst, the good people weren't going to be the only ones that wanted to get their hands on me. And I was going to try to avoid that at any cost.

"Mathers," Shepard addressed me, "Come with me."

My heart froze.

Maybe he already knew.

Maybe this was already it.


End file.
